The rally and exhibition of old tractors and agricultural machines, organized by the Retro Traktor Golub Dobrzyń club, has been attracting lovers of old agricultural technology to the Golub castle for 16 years. Although a large part of the exhibits are still well-known, popular tractor models, such as Ursus C325, C328, C330, C45 or Zetor 25 and 3011, each year you can see more and more real gems, rarely seen in Polish fields. Such machines include the titular Famulus 36, a predecessor of the popular Fortschritts, little known in Poland.
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Working classics. Fortschritt ZT-303
Before Fortschritt was created
The IFA brand (German: Industrieverband Fahrzeugbau), whose name can be translated as "industrial association for vehicle construction", was a monopoly in this respect in the German Democratic Republic. Initially, three agricultural tractor factories operated within its structures – in Schönebeck, Nordhausen and Brandenburg an der Havel. Almost everyone involved in the agricultural industry has heard of the former's products, as it was the manufacturer of Fortschritt tractors, including the popular ZT303 and ZT323 models.
The Tractor Factory in Nordhausen, which interests us this time, was established in 1948 on the site of the former O&K plants (manufacturer of locomotives and excavators) and Normag (manufacturer of agricultural tractors). Already in 1949, work was undertaken to launch the production of a completely new tractor, intended to mechanize agriculture in the GDR. Based on pre-war solutions, three new models RS01, RS02 and RS03 were created almost simultaneously, with engine power of 40, 22 and 30 HP, respectively.
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Ursus C3110, a heavy series with a Perkins engine
RS01/40 Pionier was the first East German agricultural tractor. It was based on the solutions of the Famo XL tractor, produced in today's Wrocław between 1936 and 1942, leaving the same factory as the Sd half-tracked armored personnel carriers. Kfz. 9 from World War II. The RS01 had a four-cylinder diesel engine with a capacity of 5022 cm3 and a power of 40 HP, quite modern at that time.
The RS02/22 Brockenhexe was based on pre-war solutions of the Normag brand, in whose former factory it was built. It was equipped with a two-cylinder diesel engine with a capacity of 2198 cm3 and a power of 22 HP. Many copies were equipped with an accessory strip mower suspended between the axles, as well as a pulley to drive stationary machines. The name "Brockenhexe" refers to the then popular motif of the legendary witches from the town of Brocken in the Harz Mountains.
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RS03/30 Aktivist, as you can easily guess, had a power of 30 HP. It was obtained from a two-cylinder diesel engine with a capacity of 3,325 cm3. This tractor was also based on pre-war solutions, in this case the above-mentioned O&K (Orenstein und Koppel) brand. Its characteristic feature was a very compact shape with a short wheelbase, which caused users to complain about unfavorable weight distribution, making it difficult to use the engine's capabilities in difficult conditions.
Famulus or Favorit
In 1953, RS04/30 tractors began to leave the factory in Nordhausen, equipped with a two-cylinder diesel engine with a capacity of 3012 cm3 and a power of 30 HP. In 1956, a modernized version went on sale under the name RS14/30 Favorit, or colloquially "Pflaumenmus". Due to problems regarding the rights to the name Favorit, it was changed to Famulus in 1958.
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It was under the name Famulus that the successor of the RS14/30 became popular in 1960, the RS14/36, also known as Famulus 36. The tractor, equipped with a two-cylinder diesel engine with a capacity of 3,280 cm3 and a power of 36 HP, was produced in the number of nearly 16,000 copies, and so slightly less than RS01, RS02, RS03 and RS04 combined. Thanks to its high ground clearance and creeper gear transmission, it was suitable for maintenance work, and many units were equipped with a strip mower suspended between the axles.
In Golub-Dobrzyń we could see a copy from 1962, number 8247. Both in terms of quantity and time, it is a copy from approximately half of the production. In May 1964, the Council of Ministers of the German Democratic Republic decided that among the plants included in the IFA union, the factory in Schönebeck would produce agricultural tractors. The last RS tractors were built in Nordhausen in 1965, and in 1967 large and modern Fortschritts began to leave Schönebeck, where previously implement carriers were produced. From that moment on, the plant in Nordhausen focused mainly on the production of IFA engines, including the popular 4VD engines, commonly installed in tractors, combines and trucks.
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Black pearl, i.e. Massey Ferguson Ideal 9T. We saw a used combine harvester
